Winter's Bone Character AnalysisEmma Frances KareshCollege

Daniel Woodrell creates a protagonist in his novel, Winter’s Bone, who is prideful, resilient and would do anything to preserve her own kin and blood. Woodrell also allows the reader to see her weaknesses, making identification with her character easily done. Ree Dolly faces challenges at a young age that most children her age could never endure. Her father, Jessup Dolly, disappears and leaves her as the head of the household to take care of two younger brothers, Harold and Sonny, and a mother who is mentally absent, and she eventually learns that her family will lose their home if her father does not return. Ree sets out on an adventure to find her father, and on her journey, she exhibits qualities, such as stubbornness, bravery, pride and independence, that inspire the reader to long for her success.

Once the circumstances of her situation unravel, Ree is a character who a reader will instantly want to pity and admire at the same time. She is a sixteen-year-old girl who is immediately forced into adulthood by taking charge of an abandoned family of four. Ree has dreams to leave the world she was born into and save herself, but throughout the novel she grows into a character who would sacrifice anything for her family, even...